A post-operative transsexual, commonly abbreviated as post-op TS, is a person who has undergone sex reassignment surgery. This is in contrast with a pre-op transsexual person, who may be presenting as his or her gender identity in most situations but has not undergone surgery. Sex reassignment surgery can refer to several different procedures that are designed to make transsexual persons'
. physical bodies match their gender identities. For male to female transsexuals this can include breast augmentation and surgical procedures to remove external genitalia and create female genitalia. Female to male transsexuals may have chest reconstruction surgery and phalloplasty among other surgeries. Genital surgery is specifically referred to as genital reassignment surgery, but is part of sex reassignment surgery. Not all transsexual individuals will undergo surgery in their lifetimes. Some are happy to live as their gender identity but keep the genitalia they were born with. However, for many it can be a matter of finances. Sex reassignment surgery is expensive and may not be covered by insurance in some countries. As a result it can be inaccessible to some transgender individuals. In addition, female to male transsexual individuals are less likely to have genital reassignment surgery because it is more difficult and may be less successful than male to female genital reassignment surgery. However, they may still be considered to be post-op if they have undergone chest reconstruction or other sex reassignment surgery. Before they undergo sex reassignment surgery, transsexual individuals will typically have gone through years of hormone therapy and other treatments designed to assist in the transition. In addition, most are living as their gender identity and may have been doing so for some time. Genital reassignment surgery is not essential to living like that for all individuals, though some may suffer from body dysmorphia or other psychological problems until their physical body fully matches their gender identity. http://www.srsmiami.com/FTM-female-to-male.html or http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TS-II.html#anchor70497
